Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I do not accept amendments Nos. 60 to 62, inclusive. On amendment No. 62, the development of a national food waste prevention roadmap is included as a commitment in Ireland’s waste action plan for a circular economy and the Government’s 2021 climate action plan. While the national food waste prevention roadmap will include information on food losses, the principal focus of the roadmap will be to set out a series of actions to deliver the reductions necessary to halve our food waste by 2030. This takes into account sustainable development goal 12.3 of the United Nations sustainable development goals and the plan by the European Commission to propose legally binding targets to reduce food waste across the EU by end 2023.

The definition of “food waste” in the Bill is consistent with the definition set out in EU legislation. National Food waste data, which is subject to EU reporting requirements, is also consistent with this definition. Food waste data reported from member states in mid-2022 for the reference year 2020 will also inform the process at EU level on setting targets to reduce food waste across the EU. This EU definition of food waste is more comprehensive than the equivalent term as used by the UN. The EU definition treats as food waste all food discarded as waste throughout the supply chain up to and including actions by consumers. In an EU context, the concept of food loss is used to describe loss of food in primary production, for example, pre-harvest losses, which is excluded from the scope of waste framework directive. The current definition of "food waste" in the Bill is appropriate and already addresses the activities covered by amendment A.

I will not be accepting amendment No. 60 because it is consequential on amendment No. 3, which I have not accepted.

Regarding amendment No. 61, United Nations sustainable development goals are defined in the Bill as meaning the United Nations sustainable development goals 1 to 17, inclusive The goals and their associated sub-targets are interlinked and mutually supporting and need to be considered in that context. As a result, I will not be accepting these amendments.

Amendments Nos. 63, 65 and 66 provide for a number of reports to be prepared by the Minister. I cannot accept amendment No. 65. Policy on textiles is currently being developed, with a multi-stakeholder working group having been formed by my Department to inform that process. Legislative amendments may be appropriate in the future but not at this time.

The report sought in amendment No. 66 duplicates measures included in the Bill on the preparation of the circular economy strategy and programme. In addition, the State is required to comply with EU law as a matter of course. Therefore, I am not accepting this amendment.

What is proposed in amendment No. 63 is overly prescriptive for inclusion in primary legislation. As a result, I will not be accepting the amendment. However, reducing food packaging in way which does not lead to increased food waste is an important issue and I will commit to the publication of such report before the end of 2023 on a non-statutory basis. I do not believe it is necessary for me to put into law that I will produce a report, but I give the House a commitment that I will produce such a report. Of course, it will look at the EU example.

One Senator said that this had been working in France for years.The climate and resilience law was passed in France last year but the section about designating that 20% of certain areas of supermarkets over a certain size would be used for refillable goods only comes into force in 2030. We are nearly a decade away from them legislating in France that it is a mandatory requirement. They brought some measures into force at the start of the year. For instance, they brought in some forms of plastic packaging bans in January. We will be watching to see what the effect of those packaging bans is on food waste and whether that plastic packaging is replaced with other forms of packaging, which may also be single use and not sustainable. I will produce a report as the Senator asked.